IN THEIR ELEMENT
by Khaz-Calowiel
Summary: "Bringing the siblings together for once." Ala, Nil, Tagan, Marjue and Axenn fall under a powerful curse- it is foretold that each shall be killed by the elements. But elves have some control over the elements. Can they save each other with their powers?
1. Prologue

**So basically, I really like writing my three main characters together, but because they exist in three different places I never get to.**

**So I thought I'd make an UBER compilation of ALA TAGAN NIL MARJUE AXENN finally all together on a 'family holiday' back to the clan ages where Ala, Nil and Tag were born.**

**So here is my newest Fanficiton "IN THEIR ELEMENT".**

**I also find this a good way of allowing readers to meet all my characters together in one place and see how they interact with each other.**

_**Ala, Tagan, Nil, Marjue, Axenn (c) Lavie-Nenharma**_

_**Any reference to Supernatural or Star Wars (c) Erik Kripke and George Lucas (respectively)**_

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**PROLOGUE**

The fire was warm and cosy- the people- elves- seated around it felt a strong sense of homeliness, despite the fact that each was far from what they labelled 'home'.

Axenn was the youngest member there- though he didn't look it at six-foot-eight. He was a black haired boy with a strong, almost severe face and piercing green eyes. He was extremely quiet and seemed rather sensible.  
Sitting with his family, he warmed his hands by the fire out of habit, not necessity. The rest sat in conversation- no agenda; simply idle chat between family.

Axenn's sister, Marjue, sat on the log beside him- her caramel coloured hair dancing with copper highlights in the firelight. Her mint coloured eyes were the strongest point of family resemblance between her and her brother, aside from physical likeness. But Mari's eye colour changed with her emotions and currently bore a shade of amused lilac as she laughed at her mother's joke.

Nil was Marjue and Axenn's mother. Her black hair easily linked her to Axenn, but it was her cheerful, pretty facial features that made her resemble Marjue. Her odd magenta coloured eyes were closed in laughter but even when she opened them no white could be seen. Her whole eye was coloured hot pink aside from the pupil and the darker ring that marked the edge of her iris. The children's eye colours were born from their father's hazel eyes.

Nil's sister, Ala, looked very mundane next to her siblings; because she was. Ala was the only human in the family- despite carrying an unnatural ability with elvish magic. An ability such as Ala's was extremely rare- even rarer than in the future she had come from. It was perhaps this half elvish state of being that gave her her bright orange eyes. Paired with her long dark brown hair, mundane she may have been, but she was certainly not plain.

Next was Tagan, whose appearance was even more peculiar to human eyes than Nil's magenta corneas. He had messy multi-tonal brown hair through which poked two lighter brown wolf ears instead of the 'normal' pointed elf ears. He also sported a matching tail.  
His bright, happy teal eyes were striking and they even matched the colour of his lightsaber- for the elvish boy was a jedi padawan, a long way from 'home'.

The laughter of the family echoed through the forest around them. With no civilisation, the air was clean and pure and the wilderness untouched. Civilisation itself would not come into being for another five thousand years, though time travellers would bring back stories of the fantastical things they had seen.

As their laughter died back to pleasant conversation, the sounds of the forest circled the small group, swallowed up into the warm atmosphere they had created. But to the elvish family they merely added to the comfort of the evening and the sense of belonging.

But there was no comfort like the sight of the stars above them as they all drifted off to sleep, finally back where they were meant to be.


	2. Chapter I

_The mage ran through the forest noiselessly._

_Her feet knew their path, steady and sure- her pursuers would never catch her._

_She leapt over logs, hope growing in her stomach as she flew. She needed to reach the fastwater._

_Here, she could phase into her clan animal- a trout- and be lost to those who followed. The water would wash away her mark of exile and she could return to her clan._

_Sucking in a breath, she made a sharp turn. They could still track her, but she vowed to make their task as difficult as possible._

_Turning cast her new problems- she may run into someone, and with the exile mark on her chest she would be instantly cut down by anyone who valued their clan soul._

_So what? Now that she'd had the taste of elvish blood- she wouldn't hesitate to kill again..._

_Tagan_

I prodded the fire. No-one else was up, although I could tell by Axenn's breathing that he was awake, and had been for some time.

My sister, Nil was curled up in a ball, grasping her cloak and sleeping fitfully in the absence of her husband.

Ala was sprawled out and snoring and I smiled to myself at her inelegance.

Marjue was silent and still; the calm attribute of her element- water- only visible as she slept.

Axenn finally sighed and rolled over, effortlessly hauling himself into a sitting position and nodding at me in a silent greeting. I nodded back and observed as Axenn's element stirred around him as he woke. I watched as the mist swirled and disappeared into the atmosphere.  
Its job was done; it had protected Axenn through the night.

The elf boy shook his head as his element departed, the dew flying out of his shaggy black hair. Then he got up to wake Marjue.

Marjue fought against the morning, batting her brother away with an incoherent grunt. Axenn shrugged at me, and I shrugged back at my nephew, laughing silently and miming that he should tip the wash-water over her.

A grin split his face (a rare sight; his humour was not often displayed so obviously) and he pointed at his mother. We laughed together, revelling in the natural easiness that came to our little family when we travelled back here- back home.

Sure we missed the others in our lives- Nil missed her husband desperately. Mari and Axenn missed him too. They also missed their uncle and cousin. Ala missed her best friend and I missed my master- Pheobel- and my best friend Ororan Yolenyee.

But coming back to the clan time my siblings and I grew up, the pain of all that had happened to us since then lessened. We felt whole again while we were surrounded by our untainted elements and the magic that was thick and welcoming in the air.

And it was, of course, this moment of realisation and content when everything started to go wrong.

One thing that every elf innately knows whether they were born in this time or not, is that when the birds take to the skies and the trees whisper among themselves of terror- something evil is coming.


	3. Chapter II

**I do not own Star Wars or Supernatural. People much cooler than me have that privilege. Damn them.**

**Here is chapter two of "In their Element" where things **_**really**_** begin.**

**Please enjoy! (And remember- you are my editor!)**

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_Axenn_

I didn't need wind or the birds to tell me that there was danger coming. I could feel it.

There was a very presence in the air that stilled all sounds; even that of the river that flowed behind us. The presence put dark feelings in our stomachs as Tagan and I turned our heads to the trees.

Mom scrambled to her feet, stumbling toward us, confusion on her face, her hair a worried pink-brown colour. The air that had woken her swept around her, as if trying to rile her up for a fight.

Previously drowsy and grumpy and refusing to wake, my sister- Marjue- now stood beside me, her jaw ajar and frowning. We all stared, alert and tense into the darkness of the forest, waiting for the cause.

As the presence grew slowly closer, my mother edged toward us trying to put her frame between the danger in the trees and her children. Her fingers twitched as she anticipated an attack and our combined tension drew the elvish magic around us into a tight cloak of power.

Then it finally came.

The mage burst from the trees, invisible until she broke the forest's edge. She drew up sharp, stopping dead at the edge of our camp. She was breathing heavily, fear, anger and despair plastered across her face.

On her forehead was a partly finished tattoo. It was red raw and bleeding- newly done. Or more; not quite done. She showed signs of a struggle and appeared to have run before the tattoo could be completed.

My stomach tightened as I recognised what the tattoo was; it was the mark of exile, betrayal, loneliness and suffering; a mark that meant death to the bearer and anyone who spared her.

Whatever this girl had done, her clan believed she deserved the worst kind of punishment that elf-kind dished out.

Her eyes were panicky and unfocused as she sized us up. She gazed at each of us in turn, weighing up whether we would cross her or release her. Eventually they slipped from us to the river behind. She eyed the water with longing and lust. Searching her face, I found her clan tattoo, buried under dried blood.

She was from trout clan; the asymmetrical swirls dotted with marks reminiscent of scales.

If she could make it to the water, she would be able to phase into her clan animal and be lost forever, the unhealed tattoo would wash away and she would remain unpunished for her deed.

Seeing where her gaze fell, Tagan took one step towards the river, symbolically blocking her path; he knew what the exile tattoo meant; it would mean our own deaths to let her go.

Defiantly, he tilted his chin up at her and clenched his fists.

In response to this, the mage's mouth closed into a tight line of anger; she dipped her head and narrowed her eyes, her dirty blonde hair whipping up around her as she drew power to her hands.

She searched our small group for a weakness- like a predator surveying a pack for an ideal target.

That's when all of us noticed Ala, still asleep on the ground.

It was hard to believe that, given the tension and power in the air, anyone could sleep through this. Our elements had sensed the danger of the mage approaching and warned us- the sensation even waking Mom and Mari. But Ala- despite having elvish magic- was still only human. Her connection to her element was not strong enough to warn her of such danger. And so far, this whole event had been completely silent.

We all tensed, Mom leaning forward on her toes, waiting to see what the mage would do. Fear was leaking out of every pore as the mage weighed up whether Ala was a good target or not. It would be an evil, spiteful and pointless thing to do to attack Ala, but the mage was beyond all reasoning other than escape.

I saw it before anyone else; the tiniest lean, the smallest breath and I felt the concentration of power in the mage's body shift.

Quick as lightning I acted. My mind switched into autopilot and I was moving before anyone, even the mage, could process it.  
I reached down to my boot, unsheathing a dagger from a hidden slot on the side and in one fluid, deadly movement I sent it spinning through the air where it buried itself square in the mage's chest.

The mage screamed in pain and collapsed to her knees. Ala woke with a start, scurrying backwards just as Nil was released from her tense hold and ran to envelop her in a hug.

Tagan switched his gaze from the dying woman to me, and gave me a very somber nod of approval. None of us liked to kill, but with the lives we led, it was something we were faced with all the time.

But as the adrenaline wore off, I was left with the sickening knowledge that this person's death was on my hands. Even the knowledge that she would have killed my aunt had I not acted was not enough to soothe my guilt at this point.

By this point the mage was lying on the ground, writhing as her blood pooled around her. Part of me wanted to end her suffering, but I couldn't.

I glanced back to my uncle and he rested a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"YOU!" A gurgling cry tore my attention back to the dying girl.

She flailed about, trying to flip onto her side so she could see us. She had removed my knife from her chest, but she wasn't lucid enough to heal herself.

She stretched out a blood covered hand to point. She pointed at nothing in particular at first, but after a moment her focus began to straighten up, until her outstretched bloody finger landed on me.

I stared back at her with a level expression, ready to take her words of hate.

I never expected what she cried net.

Drawing a deep breath that rattled it's way past blood into her lungs, she screamed her last words at our whole group, hurling the power she had collected to kill Ala at us at the same time. All elves knew the feelm of that power- it was her life force. She was commiting suicide for one last terrible act of evil.

"AMIN UMARTEMPLA LLE!" The mage screeched in elvish, releasing the magic over our family. Despair washed over me as I realised the mage was releasing a powerful curse on us- the greatest act of hate she could muster.

The force of the magic blast knocked her body backwards so she was face down. But the damage was done. I felt my element detach from my body. Mist switched from friend to foe, as my souls battled to stay together.

Pain and heat erupted in my head, swirling through my whole body; a high pitched whining filled my ears and was so shrill, that even the strong minded Tagan fell to his knees, clutching at his brown wolf ears.

Despite being human, I could see that Ala still bore the effects of the mage's curse, and she was entwined with Nil as they wailed in pain.

A white light blocked my vision as the mage's dark magic wrapped itself around my clan soul. I gave in to the urge to scream, powerless to stop the curse that was forming on our family. One by one we slowly blacked out an I was the last to fall, slumping over beside Marjue.

When the magic, noise and feverish pain cleared; the mage was dead.


	4. Chapter III

**Sorry for my erratic chapter lengths- It is somewhat necessary due to the changing POVs throughout the story.**

**P.S- does this chapter make any sense? o.O**

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_Nil_

I clambered to my feet, clutching my head with one hand and the other thrown in front of me for balance.

My vision cleared and my eyes fell straight on the dead mage. After a second, I processed the sight and a terrifying rage took hold of me, dying my hair a deep maroon colour.

All I wanted was to run and kick the body of the mage and blame her for the unfairness she had cast upon my family.

The rage subsided as my hair flicked up around me and I caught sight of the colour and realised how out of control I had just become. The colour drained back to its usual jet black before bleaching itself to a pale, sad brown.

My hair sometimes kept me in check with it's unique elvish power. It served as a sort of mood ring by changing colour based on my emotions. Those who knew me well enough could pinpoint my exact disposition based on these colours, which made me a bit of an open book. However it also allowed me to see and control my own erratic moods.

I detangled my feet from Ala's and noticed that she too had woken. Just like last time, I recovered the quickest. Her palms were pressed to her eyes and she was shaking violently.

Water. We needed water.

Glancing around desperately for our packs I saw that the mages burst of power had destroyed our camp.

The ash from the fireplace covered everything, the logs we'd dragged over to form seats were flung to the far side of the clearing and our bags were scattered, their contents everywhere. Worst of all; the only thing that remained of our water skins were a couple of torn hide bags.

The rest of my family were still on the ground, covered in ash and dirt. Marjue was awake, lying on her back and shivering. Tagan was on his elbows and knees clutching his head, but Axenn was sitting up and running his hands through his hair in frustration.

With a small choked cry I stumbled over to him, the need for water forgotten. I nearly tripped as my legs gave way to motherly worry and he knelt to grab my elbows and steady me. His eyes were clear, but his brow was pulled into a knot, similar to his father's, in worry.

I pulled him into a tight hug, pleased just to be able to touch him after what had happened last time I'd seen this kind of dark magic.

I did not know yet what this mage's curse entailed, but to be able to stay with my family was already a blessing. Last time, when Ala, Tagan and I had been cursed by the mage of our own clan, the curse had actually separated us physically. The mere sight of one and other would literally blast us apart. I was warily glad not to have to go through that again.

I pulled out of the hug and clasped Axenn's hands. As I gave them a squeeze, he wrenched his hand from mine with a gasp and studied his palm.

On the fleshy pad between the wrist and the thumb was a new tattoo- a curse mark. I used to bear them all over my body. Tagan had as well, but Ala, being human, has escaped that small reminder of our curse though she had still been affected.  
The tattoo on Axenn's palm resembled his elemental tattoo which had been applied by Tagan when he was only a few days old. But this had a dark feel to it, the lines of this tattoo not exactly matching his beloved Mist tattoo.

One of the extra lines; a thick line with black thorns jutting out from every angle, was wrapped around the original mark. It seemed to have life and magic of it's own, constantly twisting and winding through the lines of the mist tattoo. The surface of this line also differed from the others because whilst the mist tattoo was just a pigment, there were lively shadows and highlights played across the new line's surface.

I shuddered involuntarily, and my own palm tingled. I did not have to look down to know that I bore a similar mark to my son. But of course I did look.

And there it was- my familiar element tattoo- my personalised symbol of air- tainted with the same demonic thorny line.

My skin crawled and I felt unclean. I wanted nothing more than to scrub the mark from my skin but I already knew it would do no good. I looked back at Axenn, who was still scrutinising his palm with a look of calm hatred.

As elves, our element was among our most prized possessions and to see it defaced like this and know what it meant was agonising. I glanced up again. Tagan was studying his own palm, tracing the lines with his finger and flinching slightly as it stung him as Axenn's had. Marjue was sitting, clutching her head with her hand and staring down at her own new tattoo. Her 'mood ring' eyes were an extremely pale sickly brown colour, flecked with the grey that indicated sadness in my daughter.

I squeezed Axenn's shoulder before hauling myself to my feet to walk over and hug Marjue. She collapsed into my arms and began to sob. I looked up at Tagan, who was watching Mari with pity.

As I continued to watch, Tagan rose to his feet, his expression unreadable. Then, he did something I hadn't seen him do since he began studying at the jedi temple; he lost it.

He began to yell and kick up the dust around him, swinging his fists at the air, his ears flat on his head lip curled up over his teeth. His irises were dark and dangerous.  
The attack only lasted for a second before he stopped still and let his snarl release. His eyes lightened to their normal colour and, without a word, he walked away from our group to the edge of the forest where he sat to meditate over the loss of control he'd just experienced.

Meanwhile, I began to tidy up the camp.

I replaced the logs and rebuilt the fire. It was too late in the day now to move on; wherever we would head now. We had no guarentee that we would be able to find another suitable place to camp before dark fell.

Plus, there was a new, more relieving sensation coming from the trees. Our clan guardian- the animal species tied to each individual clan- was nearby.

When Tagan returned he was calm and in control, but his disappointment in himself was still clear in his eyes. Everyone had stopped shaking, and all our fevers had broken, but were were still weak, scared and morose.

Axenn and Mari sat together, comforting each other beside Ala, who was furioulsy prodding the fire. Her anger was causing what small connection she had to her element- fire- to flare, and the sparks from the fire were dancing around her like angry bees.

"What are we going to do?" I broke the silence that had hung since morning. No-one answered for a while, as Tagan's eyes flickered in thought.

"We have to go to trout clan. Take the mage's clan skin back to her people." He answered finally. None of us wanted to, but it was the proper thing to do. But there was still an element of danger present for us too...

"We're going to have to..." I couldn't finish. I had seen and done a lot of gruesome things in my life- a job as a 'ghost' hunter was not a clean one- but this was not something I ever expected I'd have to do.

"...Take the exile tattoo with us." Tagan finished for me. He looked as queasy about it as I did.

"What?" Mari said, understanding and nausea hitting her.

"We have to take the skin with the tattoo on it with us- or else we'll be killed. We can't just murder their mage without reason." Tagan explained to my bewildered daughter.

"Surely our turning up at the clan will be evidence enough that we are innocent?" Ala interjected.

"Because you've never lied, have you Ala Blackstone?" Tagan smiled at his sister by way of answer.

"Either way, it is a small price to pay. Better safe than sorry." I finally said deciding that I'd rather cut the forhead off a dead woman than take my chances with the reputably capricious moods of the trout people.

"You're right." Said Ala. "Let's just do it." And gritting her teeth, she did- returning with a square of skin and the shred of the mage's tunic that bore her clan skin- a strip of pink and gold spotty scales. She quickly wrapped both in a torn scrap of her broken waterskin. She shoved the package deep onto her pack and went to rinse her hands in the river.

Dinner was a forced affair that night- nobody had any appetite to boast of. We sat around the fire nibbling on strips of roasted venison in silence. There was nothing left to say.

We left the dead mage where she was, having taken back Axenn's knife and washed it clean of her blood. We hoped our clan guardian would take care of her body while we slept.  
The soulful, lyrical howls in the nearby trees told us that we wouldn't haved to wait all that long.

The wolves would guard us tonight.


End file.
